Translator: Kazeyuki_ Editor: Jimmy_
Wei Yi lowered his left hand and slowly dropped the Cicada Sword. The expression on his face darkened as the light of the sword diminished from the martial arts stage. All of his temperament, all the atmosphere, seemed to have disappeared like an extinguished candle.
Dazed, Wei Yi wore an extremely strange expression. He only had one thought in his mind: “I lost, I lost? I lost to Qin Wushuang, this dark horse?”
Before he had unleashed the first move of the <Three Sword Moves to Extinguish the Sky>, he had boasted that it would be Qin Wushuang’s win if he would defend this sword attack.
However, he did not even block it. He had used some unknown method and disappeared directly from the place that Wei Yi had aimed the temperament of the sword.
Regardless, he had lost.
Under the gazes of tens of thousands of eyes, he could not cheat. His identity as the Senior Brother and the temperament and pride he had built would not allow him to act shamelessly.
Regardless of his will, he had lost this battle.
Even if he had not lost in methods, he had lost regarding his personality.
With excitement, Tan Zhongchi jumped up from the chair. Next, he seemed to have realized his he’d forgotten his manners, he laughed drily and sat down.
“Second, Qin Wushuang has won.” Zhuo Buqun smiled leisurely as if he was enjoying this scene and the result.
The other three Palace Masters all stared at Zhuo Buqun with an astonished look. On the other hand, Zhuo Buqun gave a long laugh and walked away in large strides.
He had finally waited for this result. To him, this was a perfect result. Both sides did not suffer injuries again and they were able to determine a winner and loser. This battle had let Wei Yi experience defeat and dragged him down from the seat of the King.
This was an absolutely good thing and a hundred times better than yet another score in the inter-faction rivalry between the palaces.
And from Qin Wushuang, he had seen the temperament he had admired and hoped for. Qin Wushuang did not attack nor evade, yet he had dodged it marvelously.
This dodge had profound meanings. It completely conveyed Qin Wushuang’s peaceful intention.
If Qin Wushuang desired to attack, he could have launched a surprise attack before Wei Yi had finished accumulating the sword intention. However, he did not.
This was the stage that Zhuo Buqun had always encouraged!
Beneath the martial arts stage, waves of cheers and thunderous clapping emerged. The cheering sound rose violently as the rising tide and did not go away for a while. Regardless of Qin Wushuang’s supporters, those who had doubts or felt unreconciled, they could not help but be impressed by his outstanding performance.
For this battle, they had no reason to not feel impressed!
Besides feeling impressed, all of them were convinced. For that sword move that possessed an engulfing power, even they had felt danger while beneath the stage. However, Qin Wushuang on the martial arts stage had acted with such nonchalance and had dodged it with calm and ease. He had grabbed the victory firmly in his hand.
This was his strength, the strength that no one could doubt!
In the world of power, if you had the strength, even your opponents could not help but cheer for you!
And those who were acquainted with Qin Wushuang all hugged each other and cheered. Those disciples from the Bai Yue Country formed groups to cheer for Qin Wushuang. Naturally, they shed joyful tears at this moment.
It seemed that Qin Wushuang’s victory also belonged to them and to the entire Bai Yue Country.
As people from the same home country, they felt as if it had happened to themselves. They felt extreme glory and pride in Qin Wushuang’s win.
Showing a dark expression, Wei Yi drew a deep breath and glanced at Qin Wushuang with a meaningful look. He said in a depressed tone: “Junior Brother Qin, for this fight, you have won.”
“You also did not lose.” Qin Wushuang revealed his benevolence.
“No…” With a bitter expression, Wei Yi said, “I lost. Even if I had not lost in terms of moves, I have already lost over the temperament and the stages. My teacher has always reminded me to not forget to pursue a further advancement in the stages. For this fight, I’ve vividly grasped what the true stages are…”
After he had finished, he cupped his hands in a salute: “Although I have lost, I embrace it wholeheartedly. To now, I have absolutely no complaints, but only gratitude. In the future, if I were to break through in my stages, it would all be thanks to this battle.”
Next, he laughed and his entire mood lifted. He felt that the sky had become high and vast, the blue sky and the white clouds seemed familiar and friendly. It made him feel that in the vast land, there were too many things for him to pursue, and how could this one instance of loss on this narrow martial arts stage be worth lingering over?
“Haha, the shackles of fame and glory is like the floating clouds in the sky. If I had not broken through, it would have forever remained a dark haze surrounding me. Now, I have broken through, it is as light as a cloud. I will not participate in the fights for Third or Fourth places. Regardless of the Third or the Fourth place, why does it matter?”
Initially, this Wei Yi was a smart guy with Natural Spiritual Roots. However, his eyes had been covered for a time. Once he understood, naturally, his level increased tremendously as he had seen past all the petty matters and grudges…
Qin Wushuang remained silent in his own thoughts as he watched Wei Yi’s free and easy departing back. Suddenly, he laughed in understanding and came to the realization as if a door had opened deep in his soul.
“After all, Senior Brother Wei Yi is an exceptional genius. Once he had come to the realization, he became free and easy…” Immediately, Qin Wushuang had a good impression of Wei Yi.
The officiating Butler went up on the stage and announced Qin Wushuang’s victory.
Qin Wushuang only smiled and did not show any euphoria. For this battle, compared to the fame and renown, the invisible gains he had gained seemed subtle.
The increase of his stages, the breakthrough of his power, and many other aspects made Qin Wushuang feel that it was his fortune to have someone like Senior Brother Wei YI as a competitor!
Qin Wushuang was deeply impressed by Wei Yi’s temperament for leaving so freely. He was able to come to a huge realization at this instant after experiencing a tremendous loss, naturally, he was not an ordinary being to understand everything instantly!
Compared to the roundabout battle in Wushuang’s battle, the battle between Zhou Fu and Miao Zhongxia appeared ordinary. There weren’t any surprises that grasped people’s heart.
Miao Zhongxia also did not showcase the strength and the determination to challenge Zhou Fu. After struggling for a while, he lost without question.
Up to this point, a dream-like situation that Tan Zhongchi had not dared to think about has now happened.
The two final spots in this year’s Core ranking competition belonged to the two disciples that he was most proud of. They had actually made it to the final!
For this situation, even the most creative person would never have dreamed of it before the start of the Core ranking competition.
Even before the start of the semi-final, no one had believed such scene would occur. It was because that Wei Yi’s advantage was too superior. And his authoritative figure also caused people to not hold much expectation of Qin Wushuang, the dark horse.
However, the most shocking event since the start of the competition had occurred. Qin Wushuang, the dark horse had made it to the end.
The second half competition was also exciting. The Green Cloud Palace had seized the richest harvest. Lü Teng and Jian Rui, Tan Zhongchi’s second disciple and third disciple respectively, had won the title for both the ninth and tenth place.
In the Core ranking competition, the line of the Green Cloud Palace had taken four seats and suppressed the line of the Head Palace Master.
It would have been ok if they had won with the number of spots. However, this time, the Green Cloud Palace had also taken the usual First and Second Places that had always belonged to the line of the Head Palace Master!
Tan Zhongchi’s heart bloomed like a flower. His happiness could not be described by any form of language.
The other three Palace Masters could only look on jealously with their eyes. At the same time, they still did not forget to find excuses to feel that in the end, the Green Cloud Palace had a better luck at the draw. Or else, they would never have been in the situation to take four spots in the top ten.
To Hong Li, that studied with the Head Palace Master, he would not have been left out pf the competition for the ninth and tenth places if he hadn’t been injured by Qin Wushuang during the quarter-final. After all, Hong Li was a seeded warrior that ranked seventh last year.
Regardless of the reason, everyone had watched how the disciples of the Green Cloud Palace had achieved their grades.
Not to mention the others, the glory from two disciples from the same Palace meeting in the final provided enough proof.
Although Wei Yi’s loss was not a true defeat, regardless, it was a fact that he could not defeat Qin Wushuang.
He had unleashed his strongest sword move, yet he could not hurt Qin Wushuang. It meant that at least, Qin Wushuang would not lose in a fight with Wei Yi.
Still, it was Qin Wushuang’s accomplishment.
This name seemed to be destined to become a legend in the Stargaze Palace. Once again, he had become the number one figure discussed in the Palace.
Just with the point of how he was able to change the placement of the victor in this ranking competition, it was enough for people to talk about him.
For the last round, there was no need to do the draw.
The two that had advanced from the semi-final were Qin Wushuang and Zhou Fu. Both had come from the Green Cloud Palace.
And it was Wei Yi and Miao Zhongxia competing for the third and the fourth place. Since Wei Yi had announced publicly that he had given up the competition, after the discussion between the five Palace Masters, Miao Zhongxia would rank third by default. And Wei Yi would rank fourth.
Of course, even Tian Zhixing, the Fifth Palace Master felt somewhat embarrassed about this ranking. Miao Zhongxia suppressing Wei Yi? Regardless of how one looked at it, this ranking seemed out of place.
However, since Zhuo Buqun, the Head Palace Master had reiterated that the rules had been unchanged since the ancient ages. The ones that admitted defeat would lose!
The only suspense left would be the internal conflict within the Green Cloud Palace.
In the end, in this last battle, Qin Wushuang would face his own Senior Sister from the same line. He would face the center of attention of all male disciples—Zhou Fu. What would he do?
Would he continued to advance, beat Zhou Fu and take the first place in the ranking competition? Or would he give up and let his own Senior Sister succeed?
Usually, the end result was always unexpected.
Qin Wushuang did not announce his withdrawal. On the contrary, Zhou Fu was determined to help Qin Wushuang win by admitting defeat after consulting with Tan Zhongchi on the resting day!
Tan Zhongchi was left with no options and could only agree to her wishes. Although he knew that with Qin Wushuang’s temperament and power along the way, even the Senior Sister Zhou Fu would not have withstood his momentum.
Since Zhou Fu had stubbornly desired this decision, Tan Zhongchi could only go along with her intentions. He knew that Zhou Fu was sincere as she wanted Qin Wushuang to step out and carry the lines of the Green Cloud Palace, even all the young generation at the Stargaze Palace, to move forward!
This way, the results from the most dramatic ranking competition in the history of the Stargaze Palace had emerged.
A dark horse, with unstoppable momentum, had directly risen up to become the champion in the ranking competition!
Qin Wushuang, this name that was destined to become a legend, had been recorded in the history of the Stargaze Palace with honor!
